A Thousand Sisters
Page 25
If there is one thing to be learned from the thousand sisters of Raskova’s regiments, it is that change is possible. It can begin with one person.
Go out and change the wind.
Source Notes
Complete bibliographic information can be found in the bibliography here for the sources listed here by author and page number.
EPIGRAPHS
Life is life, and war is war: Galina Tenuyeva-Lomanova in Noggle, 155.
War is war, and life is life: Antonina Bondareva-Spitsina in Noggle, 109.
If the women of the world united: Alexandra Akimova in Noggle, 94.
BATTLE CRY: A PROLOGUE
And moviemakers did their part: Wilde & Borsten, xii–xiii.
The novelist was already famous: Schneider, 236.
So working on Battle Cry was William Faulkner’s way of contributing: Hamblin & Brodsky, xvi.
“Battle cry . . . rises from the throats of free men”: Faulkner, 185.
William Faulkner was excited: Hamblin & Brodsky, xvii.
By the end of that hot July: Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1943, 1.
The weather didn’t stop director Howard Hawks: Hamblin & Brodsky, xxxvi.
Meanwhile, William Faulkner rewrote the Russian sequence: ibid., xxxvii.
The Russian story for Battle Cry: Asbury Park Press, Feb. 3, 1943, 14.
The original writers show Tania: Atkins & Bacher, 19–57; Faulkner, 217–48.
On August 3, 1943, after more than a month: Hamblin & Brodsky, xxxvii.
One of these young pilots: Cottam 1998, 152; Pennington 2001, 140.
In less than a year she’d shot down: S. Gribanov in Cottam 1997, 311; Cottam 1998, 152; Pennington 2001, 141–42.
Sadly, the epic project never: Wilde & Borsten, xi.
By the end of August: Hamblin & Brodsky, xl.
CHAPTER 1: THE EARLY LIFE AND TIMES OF MARINA RASKOVA, NAVIGATOR AND PILOT
Less than a year later: Cottam 1998, 17.
Russians at home grew angry: Fleming 2014, 133–35, 140–41.
Now, throughout Russia, young women felt: Stites, 299.
Maria Bochkareva, who’d married a soldier: Abraham, 125; Pennington 2003 Vol. 1, 60–61; Pennington 2001, 5; Stites, 298.
Before World War I was over: Stites, 298.
Nadezhda Degtereva: Pennington 2003 Vol. 2, 395.
Workers and intellectuals in Petrograd: Fleming 2014, 161–68, 175–77.
A Provisional Government: Cottam 1998, xviii.
Lenin’s vision of a better future: Lenin, April Theses, 1917.
In the same year: see Fleming, 2014, for a detailed account of the fall of the Romanovs.
Marina started going to elementary school: Cottam 1998, 17.
The winds of change blew harshly: Cottam 1998, 17; Cottam 2000, 17.
She was just beginning further education: Strebe 2003, 42.
CHAPTER 2: LEARNING TO FLY IN A NATION THAT’S LEARNING TO FLY
There were droughts in 1920 and 1921: Overy, 4–5.
One of the ways the Soviet government: Krylova 2010, 22.
In this respect, the United States: Rury, 22–24.
But in the years between the two world wars: Krylova 2010, 49; Vinogradova 2015, 26.
As a high school student: Cottam 1998, 18; Strebe 2009, 16.
When Marina reached the age of fifteen: Cottam 1998, 18; Markova 1986, 9; Strebe 2009, 16.
Marina had dreamed of a musical career: Cottam 1998, 18; Merry, 14, 151; Strebe 2009, 16.
When Marina graduated: Cottam 1998, 18; Strebe 2003, 42.
Girls and boys growing up in the Soviet Union: Krylova 2004, 630–31.
In 1928, the Red Army’s chief of staff: Anderson, 121: Overy, 6, 9.
And so, beginning in 1932, military training: Krylova 2010, 51–52; McNeal, 77.
In Germany, restrictions: Zegenhagen, 583–84.
But in the USSR, by 1935: Merry, 36, 105; Pennington 2001, 10.
Nevertheless, according to the Soviet Constitution of 1936: 1936 Constitution of the USSR; Merry, 49.
letting girls into after-school flying clubs: Krylova 2010, 53; Merry, 19.
Marina was about eighteen: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 19; Cottam 1998, 18; Strebe 2003, 43.
Their daughter, Tatyana: Cottam 1998, 18; Merry, 151; Pennington 2003 Vol. 2, 351.
She drafted drawings: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 19; Markova 1986, 12; Merry, 151.
Air navigation became the focus: Cottam 1998, 18.
Marina was able to manage: Cottam 1998, 19; Pennington 2003 Vol. 2, 351.
The 1920s and 1930s are often called: Strebe 2009, 21.
The United States and the United Kingdom: Aircraft Year Book 1938, 11–13.
Stalin and the Communist Party: Krylova 2010, 38; Markwick & Cardona 2012, 8.
Before the Russian Revolution, about 80 percent: Fleming 2014, 5.
After the revolution, they’d claimed land: Overy, 17.
The number of small farms: Gruliow & Lederer, 5.
There was resistance to them everywhere: Overy, 23.
In addition to the collectivization of farms: ibid., 17–18.
One of the major goals: Christine A. White in Noggle, 6.
In 1933, at the age of twenty-one: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 19–20; Cottam 1998, 19; Pennington 2003 Vol. 2, 351; Strebe 2003, 43.
She was the first woman: Christine A. White in Noggle, 6; Cottam 1998, 19.
Being the trailblazer for women: Cottam 2000, 19.
As well as teaching: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20; Cottam 2000, 19; Strebe 2003, 43.
Sidebar: “Women Don’t Belong in Airplanes”
“Unlike American officials . . . world’s foremost experts”: Arizona Republic, June 11, 1936, 18.
The 1929 women’s National Air Race: Gibson, 43.
“Women don’t belong in airplanes. That’s a man’s job”: Anonymous flight instructor quoted by Edna Gardner White in Gibson, 73.
When an American female pilot was killed: Gibson, 55.
In 1927, when Charles Lindbergh: ibid., 42.
By 1935, out of 13,949 licensed pilots: Aircraft Year Book 1935, 183.
around 800 were women: Gibson, 44.
that statistic wasn’t much higher: Maksel, February 6, 2015.
It’s a sharp contrast: Cottam 1983, 1; Pennington 2001, 10; Strebe 2009, 22.
CHAPTER 3: MARINA NAVIGATES
Stalin was a complex, confusing man: Anderson, 83; Montefiore, 90–97, 99–101, 127, 149; Overy, 24–25.
Stalin called on the People’s Commissariat: Anderson, 97; Overy, 21–22.
In the weeks following the murder: Overy, 24–25.
In 1936 he began a series of random arrests: Anderson, 83; Overy, 25.
People tried to hide their identities: Anderson, 84, 86.
A chilling example: Anna Popova in Noggle, 228–31.
“the vigilant hawks . . . life-term inmates”: Anna Popova in Noggle, 229.
Marina completed her pilot’s license: Gibson, 121, 122.
In the same year: Pennington 2003 Vol. 2, 351; Strebe 2003, 43; Vinogradova 2015, 26.
Marina was only twenty-three: Cottam 1998, 19.
Right after she got her pilot’s license: Cottam 2000, 19; Strebe 2003, 44.
In June 1937, Stalin’s minions: Anderson, 128; Montefiore, 198.
He was tried, found guilty: Anderson, 129, 403; Montefiore, 200–201; Overy 28–29.
Less than a week later: Aircraft Year Book 1938, 148; M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 19; Strebe 2003, 44.
But in October 1937, Tupolev: Gunston, 279, 378.
Andrey Tupolev would spend: Overy, 224.
Marina was well placed: Cottam 2000, 19; Strebe 2003, 44.
Marina no doubt took advantage: Bailes, 55, 58.
Marina, following in Aleksandr’s footsteps: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20; Cottam 2000, 20; Strebe 2003, 44.
Valentina herself was a deputy: Cottam 1998, 3, 9.
If Marina really was: Vinogradova 2015, 30–31.
In July 1938, Marina Raskova broke yet: Cottam 2000, 20; Strebe 2003, 44.
CHAPTER 4: THE FLIGHT OF THE RODINA
Valentina Grizodubova, the pilot: Cottam 1998, 3–4; Merry, 166–67.
This time, Valentina wanted to fly: Cottam 1998, 21; Krylova 2010, 77–78.
The flight was supported: Pennington 2001, 14.
boasted that its air force: Aircraft Year Book 1938, 11; Bailes, 70.
Valentina, Polina, and Marina spent the summer: Cottam 1998, 4, 13, 20.
But the flight of the Rodina had to be delayed: Cottam 1998, 21; Cottam 2000, 20; Pittsburgh Press, June 20, 1943, 1; Strebe 2003, 45.
Stalin, not a man to pay much attention: Cottam 1998, 5, 21; Cottam 2000, 20; Pennington 2003 Vol. 1, 186.
Early in the morning on September 24, 1938: Cottam 1998, 13.
Half an hour after takeoff: Cottam 2000, 21.
The crew was flying blind: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20; Markova 1986, 39–40.
It wasn’t just cloudy, though: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20; Cottam 1998, 5, 13; Cottam 2000, 21; Daily Chronicle, 4 Oct 1938, 7; Strebe 2003, 45.
Marina and Valentina had to write notes: Markova 1986, 38.
Valentina flew the Rodina higher: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20.
She had to take off her fur gloves: Markova 1986, 40–41.
Polina took over the flight controls for six hours: Cottam 1998, 13.
As it grew light, the weather got better: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 20; Markova 1986, 47.
They’d been flying without stopping: Pennington 2001, 15.
Valentina guessed that the mechanics: Cottam 1998, 5; Cottam 2000, 45; Pennington 2001, 16; Strebe 2003, 45.
In those tense minutes: Markova 1986, 47.
The navigator’s cabin was by itself: ibid.
So Marina made her first-ever parachute jump: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 21; Cottam 1998, 14, 22; Cottam 2000, 21; Strebe 2003, 45.
With just enough fuel: Merry, 15.
Although her parachute had tangled in a fir tree: Markova 1986, 50.
Alone by herself in the taiga: Brontman, 71; Merry, 15.
Marina had accidentally left her emergency kit: Vinogradova 2015, 28.
For ten days, she survived on wild cranberries: Merry, 15; Pennington 2001, 16.
As she wandered in hungry frustration: Markova 1986, 58–59.
To her horror, one evening: Brontman, 80; Cottam 2000, 21; Markova 1986, 59.
Meanwhile, fifty aircraft and thousands: Cottam 2000, 21; Daily Chronicle, October 4, 1938, 7; Pennington 2001, 16; Vinogradova 2015, 29.
In the meantime, they dropped supplies: Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1938, 23; Pennington 2001, 16.
During the rescue effort that followed: Cottam 1998, 5; Cottam 2000, 21; Strebe 2003, 45; Vinogradova 2015, 29.
It was years before this tragedy: Cottam 1998, 5; Pennington 2001, 16.
For, in just over a day: Cottam 1998, 23; Krylova 2010, 78–79; Merry, 16; Strebe 2003, 46.
The day after the crash site was located: Cottam 1998, 22; Strebe 2003, 45.
She and her crewmates hugged each other: Markova 1986, 62.
When Marina was able to speak: Harris 2008, 42.
When the triumphant fliers got back: Cottam 1998, 14, 23.
Apparently Stalin himself greeted them: Pennington 2001, 17.
Valentina held her two-year-old son: Lambert, New York Times, May 1, 1993; Merry, 80; Petrone, 60–61.
Marina and Polina were each presented: Cottam 1998, 23; Strebe 2003, 46.
CHAPTER 5: “A GENERATION NOT FROM THIS UNIVERSE”
Two days after the flight: Merry, 81.
When Polina died in a crash: Strebe 2003, 46.
In June 1935, eighteen-year-old Anna Mlynek: Krylova 2010, 50, quoting Komsomolskaya Pravda for June 3, 1935.
Stalin often managed to shrug off the blame: Anna Popova in Noggle, 230; Overy 24–25.
Another teen who suffered: Cottam 1997, 304; Cottam 1998, 149; Pennington 2003 Vol. 1, 261.
She made her first solo flight: S. Gribanov in Cottam 1997, 305.
She was seventeen and already training: Merry, 151.
Lilya cut out newspaper articles: S. Gribanov in Cottam 1997, 304; Pennington 2001, 19; Strebe 2003, 46.
In 1937, when Lilya was sixteen: Inna Pasportnikova in Noggle, 199; Pennington 2001, 141.
“I hated Stalin throughout my life . . . when the war started”: Antonina Khokhlova-Dubkova in Noggle, 117.
“eight boys and myself . . . let him fight for himself!”: ibid.
“I was not brave, I was lucky . . . shot on the spot”: ibid., 118.
“We are a generation not from this universe”: Irina Rakobolskaya quoted in Krylova 2010, 12.
But while in the past: Cottam 1998, 23; Markova 1986, 5; Merry, 152; Strebe 2003, 46.
Marina had seriously injured her legs: Cottam 1998, 23.
But she’d been rewarded with a pile of cash: Cottam 1998, 23; Merry, 23.
anybody who couldn’t get hold of the physical book: Vinogradova 2015, 38.
CHAPTER 6: “NOW EUROPE IS MINE!”
To the Soviet Union . . . “Now Europe is mine!”: Overy, 49.
As soon as the United Kingdom: Curtis, 318–19.
At first, these women were restricted: ibid., 312–17.
Thousands of miles across the Atlantic: Gibson, 98; Strebe 2009, 5.
By now, one in every three or four pilots: Cottam 1983, 1; Pennington 2001, 10.
For most Soviet citizens at home: LaFeber & Polenberg, 250.
Hoping to soothe Soviet anxiety: Overy, 62, 64.
then in April 1941 the USSR: LaFeber & Polenberg, 252.
Hitler had had enough: Saywell, 133.
For all Stalin’s preparation: Beevor & Vinogradova in Grossman 2006, 3; Overy, 69–70.
CHAPTER 7: THE STORM OF WAR BREAKS
June 22, 1941, was a Sunday: Olga Yakovleva in Cottam 1997, 285.
All over the USSR: Beevor & Vinogradova in Grossman 2006, 3.
One shocking feature: Bailes, 78.
Imagine, if you can, three million armed soldiers: Beevor & Vinogradova in Grossman 2006, 3.
Early on, supplies became so short: Grossman, 7.
In desperation: Grossman, 13.
The Germans first stormed through the cities: Saywell, 133.
“A cow, howling bombs, fire, women . . . just for a moment”: Vasily Grossman in Grossman, 9.
Traveling with the Red Army: Grossman, 23.
Ripe grain went unharvested: Grossman, 39.
Twenty-year-old Mariya “Masha” Dolina: Mariya Dolina in Noggle, 119.
“with our own hands, where we had lived so happily”: ibid., 120.
“When I flew over that night . . . the air was on fire”: ibid., 120.
As the Red Army mobilized: Overy, 80.
There weren’t any air raid shelters in Moscow: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 16.
But because military enlistment: Krylova 2010, 59.
Most young Soviet women found themselves struggling: Olga Yakovleva in Cottam 1997, 285.
All over the USSR: S. Gribanov in Cottam 1997, 305; Cottam 1998, 149; Merry, 168; Pennington 2003 Vol. 1, 261–62.
At the beginning of the war: Pennington 2001, 21.
The government didn’t like the idea: Harris 2008, 223.
Polina Gelman, who’d taken up flying in ninth grade: Polina Gelman in Cottam 1997, 162; Polina Gelman in Noggle, 39.
“We were brought up to believe . . . into the army, too”: Polina Gelman in Noggle, 39.
“But we are indeed capable . . . sleep in the snow”: Zoya Malkova in Cottam 1997, 298.
The man told them: ibid.
In August 1941, Stalin issued a fearful rule: Overy, 80–81.
CHAPTER 8: “DEAR SISTERS! THE HOUR HAS COME . . .”
Marina, too, tried to sign up to fight: Krylova 2010,
88–89; Merry, 23.
Pilots and navigators: Pennington 2001, 22.
Marina approached Josef Stalin: Flerovsky, 28; Markwick & Cardona 2012, 84, 88; Pennington 2001, 25.
“You understand, future generations . . . sacrificing young girls”: Stalin’s words as paraphrased by Yevgeniya Zhigulenko in Keyssar & Pozner 1990, 39–40.
“They are running away . . . steal airplanes to go”: Marina Raskova’s words as paraphrased by Yevgeniya Zhigulenko in Keyssar & Pozner 1990, 39–40.
“There were several girls who had asked . . . They just couldn’t wait”: Yevgeniya Zhigulenko in Keyssar & Pozner 1990, 39–40.
“the peoples of Europe and America . . . war against German fascism”: Stalin n.d. (1944?), 9.
But Stalin didn’t mention: ibid., 5–9.
nearly a million Soviet women: Alexievich 2017, x; Cottam 1998, xx; Markwick & Cardona 2012, 1, 150.
By luck or persistence, either women: Krylova 2010, 98.
Even Marina’s aviation regiments: Pennington 2001, 22.
It took several months of persistence: Merry, 23–24; Christine A. White in Noggle, 7; Pennington 2001, 23.
At the end of the first week in September 1941: Merry, 24; Pennington 2001, 29; Washington Court House Record-Herald, September 20, 1941, 4.
“Dear sisters! The hour has come . . . the warriors for freedom”: The text of this speech by Marina Raskova is quoted in Russian in Markova 1986, 67; the English translation is from Pennington 2001, 29.
The USSR was the first: Campbell, 319–20; Markwick & Cardona 2012, 84.
People often assume there was a shortage: Merry, 24; Pennington 2001, 57.
There were hundreds of Soviet flight regiments: Merry, 50; Pennington 2001, 234, note 90.
Her daughter, Tanya, was a girl to be proud of: Galina Chapligina-Nikitina in Noggle, 139.
But the formation of the women’s air regiments was kept quiet: Markwick & Cardona 2012, 85, 88–89.
On October 8, 1941, the People’s Commissariat: Krylova 2010, 124; Christine A. White in Noggle, 7; Pennington 2001, 31.
To give Marina the authority: Krylova 2010, 125.
An official order was made: M. A. Kazarinova in Cottam 1997, 17.
The German army was now closing in: Grossman, 52; Stolfi, 215, 222.
Museum staff were frantically packing up: Overy, 96.
German aircraft flew over: Evgenia Sergeevna Sapronova in Alexievich 2017, 25.
Yevgeniya Zhigulenko was a horse rider: Yevgeniya Zhigulenko in Noggle, 53.